Time Trial Series

[KarenG]

Well,

On a whim last Wednesday evening, I signed up for one of the 10mi Time Trials (http://www.carolinatt.org/index.php)being held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord. Never done one before. This one is May 2. I thought, "what the hell" I've wanted to do something like this, but never thought I was capable. Hell, I might suck at it and never want to do it again, but on the other hand, maybe I'll really like it!

There is also a TT series at the Orange County Speedway on Tuesday evenings every month (once a month). Some people from one of the other forums I visit are coming up for that one next week. I think I might go ahead and sign up for that one too.

Anyway, just wondered if anyone else might be interested in doing these as well? Here's the link (http://www.fsseries.com/time_trial_osc_bicycle.html) for the one in Orange Co.

Gonna find out just how bad I am going fast against the clock :o

[Zonda]

We have a 71k time trial June 20th for OMV. Ed does it to celebrate his birthday and the distance is his age. I think we start near Morrisville. Then we go eat at the El Dorado Mexican restaurant in West Cary.

Unfortunately, last year we had a heavy down pour most of the day flooding some of the roads. We all were sissies and didn't ride, but Ed showed up and did the time trial himself.:p Maybe we will have a better turnout for him this year.

[BetsyW]

Brian and I have been looking into these time trials at Charlotte motor speedway. I'm afraid we wouldn't go very fast though because we'd both be gawking at the banking. Beware of turn 2 - when we saw a race there that's where all of the action was:D Seriously, please report back - we've been dying to know if it would be worth trying or if we'd just get laughed at.

[KarenG]

well, i very well expect to get laughed at :D since i'm prolly gonna be one slow cyclist.

i've got a section of roadway that i've found which is 5mi long. i do an out & back for 10mi. tonight, i did the 10mi in 34:30, which comes out to 17.4mph. i think i need to warm up a little more, cause the return trip is a lot easier. i guess not bad for a slighly rolling terrain. i would like to do 18-19mph when i do this on the 2nd.

i'll do the best i can as far as training in the next 3 weeks, but expect this to be a learning experience and not expect to do well. i'm gonna be there to have fun!

oh yeah, if your interested, you should try out the one at the Orange County speedway. i may be doing more of them than the ones in Charlotte since it's closer.

[BetsyW]

[QUOTE=KarenG;193336]well, i very well expect to get laughed at :D since i'm prolly gonna be one slow cyclist.

Please - you're way faster than I am and I seriously considered doing it. I've actually read that there riders of all levels out there, that's why they have all the rules about being able to hold your line, so the really fast people can cruise on by:) . I really want to know if there are everyday riders out there, and I'm sure there are - if not just for the fact of wanting to experience riding on the speedway (which is why I really want to do it). Good luck!

[KarenG]

girl, you should just go ahead and register for the one at the Orange Co Speedway next Tuesday. i haven't registered for that one yet, but most likely will sometime before this week is over. that way, we could at least cheer each other on!

[BetsyW]

girl, you should just go ahead and register for the one at the Orange Co Speedway next Tuesday. i haven't registered for that one yet, but most likely will sometime before this week is over. that way, we could at least cheer each other on!

Can I register in the 10-12 year old age group? No wait, they're probably faster than me too. I would love to go watch first and see how the whole thing works. I'm in school until 5 for a few more weeks and I doubt I would make it up to Orange County in time, but I'm not in school in May. Hmmm....

By the way, I looked at the results in March and by my calculations the slowest person was about 18 mph, not sure I'm quite there yet.

[KarenG]

ok betsy, you need to get outa class early on tuesday and come cheer me on! i just signed up for the TT at the orange co speedway!

[BetsyW]

ok betsy, you need to get outa class early on tuesday and come cheer me on! i just signed up for the TT at the orange co speedway!

We're actually talking about riding up there Tuesday night. We want to see one before we're brave enough to actually try to do one. By the way, rode tonight and tried to push myself as hard as I could - ended up averaging 15.8mph:) We only did 12.5 miles though because it was colder than we thought.

[KarenG]

yea, i'm officially registered now. come on up and be my cheering section!

[Zonda]

How did you do? We are on pins and needles waiting.:D

[KarenG]

ok guys - i'm back!

woooooooo-hooooooo what a blast that was! my friend, VegaVixen over in bikeforums (BF), was right...no need to be nervous!

so, the ride report:

got there a little late - i had wanted to get in about 30-45min of warmup, but only got about 20 maybe. there were quite a few people there, but i didn't count them. some really fast guys with the whoosh-whoosh wheels going extremely fast.

i started about 5th or 6th, no real order just get lined up whenever you want to go and they start you off at 1min intervals. of course, i started out too fast and i did realize it and made myself slow down so i wouldn't wear out too soon. it seemed like it was gonna take forever for 8mi to click off on my 'puter! the last mile i just tried to haul ass as hard as i could and bout wrecked coming in to the finish line!!

they have these little bitty cones on the right and i over shoot and have to weave back through them. hammer down to get across the time thingy and a short ride in the infield to cool down. stood around talking to two other women and watching the guys. it was these women's first TT as well.

the wind wasn't extremely bad, but you definitely hit a wall on the 3rd turn coming into the front stretch. once past that, you could pick your speed back up through turns 1-3. i think i coulda done better had it not been for the wind. i didn't feel like my legs were hurting that bad, just had more problems breathing than anything else.

i think i did pretty well for my first time on the new bike...garmin edge says i completed 8mi in 25:00 for, are you ready.......19.2mph average!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!! http://www.bikeforums.net/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://www.bikeforums.net/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://www.bikeforums.net/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

can you say HELL YEA???

man, - i'm hooked http://www.bikeforums.net/images/smilies/biggrin.gif i will be back to that track next month. i might even see if i can talk the hubby into letting me go to Charleston this weekend for a race!....

karen.

[BetsyW]

Hell Yea!!

[Zonda]

Look how far you have come in just a year. Lots of hard work. Congratulations!:D

[williamtash]

WELL GO GIRL did you hall butt or what

[KarenG]

Official Results (http://www.fsseries.com/results/OCS_Time_Trial_2007_April_17.htm)

[3MTA3]

some pics i took:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/204/463512674_1f370dbddf.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/196/463512696_ffc9b4f102.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/229/463512708_1e88009714.jpg

[Zonda]

some pics i took:

How awesome. Thanks Ryan!

[KarenG]

Hey guys....

Well, I drove down there yesterday and I was not feeling too good about riding. I just didn't feel like I wanted to ride....

But, once I got there, that sorta changed. My daughter met me there and was my own personal cheering section! I met a coupla of people from BikeForums too.

I bet there were 300+ people doing that TT yesterday. I even saw some Gyros up there!

So...I do a coupla warmup laps, about 6-7miles and I'm thinking what the hell am I doing here?? This is so hard on the front stretch with the wind hitting you and it's so far to go before you get outa the wind...back stretch from turn 2 to 4 wasn't too bad and you could really pick your speed up in that area...think my max was around 25 or so. Looked at my average speed after warmup and it was like 16.5...I thought, man I'm not gonna do well tonight.

But...once you start actually racing against that clock, the story's different. I started too fast once again, and tried to slow it down a little...don't think I really did tho, looking at my lap data. Nicole (my daughter) was there at the start/finish line and every time I went by she would yell "Go Momma or Go Jelly Belly" (jersey I had on) and that really helped! I would work a little bit harder after hearing that. There were a lot of people there cheering the riders on.

Not really a lot to say about the laps...just go around and around as fast as possible, pass the slower riders on the right and don't draft...try to spin like the faster riders. Once you got towards the front stretch and the wind hits you, I tried to gear down a little so that I was spinning a little more and tried to not lose too much speed (keep it above 18mph). Cheering section helped a lot on the front stretch.

After completing lap 6 I really kicked it up a notch to try and get in under 28min but just quite didn't make it. The last lap, when you come off of turn 3, you go down pit road for your final lap and cross the finish line - that lap is when I got up to almost 26mph on the back stretch. I hauled ass on that last lap and finished with a total time of 28:38:49 and an average of 20.94mph! Damn! Almost broke the 21mph barrier!

I think I'll do this one again even if it's a haul from Clayton. I have to see if I can do better next time.

Next TT is at OCS on May 15....

[Zonda]

I hauled ass on that last lap and finished with a total time of 28:38:49 and an average of 20.94mph! Damn! Almost broke the 21mph barrier!

Congratulations Karen!;) Jay, watch out!!:D

[KarenG]

Congratulations Karen!;) Jay, watch out!!:D


hahaha :D

i don't think Jay has anything to worry about. unfortunately for me, he can drop me when ever he wants to:o

i think he should come out to the OCS on 5/15 and ride that TT and see how well he can do!

[JayC]

I seek my glory in real race

[skart]

Don't they call TT a "race of truth"? ;)